It’s been a while since I last wrote. I have been immersed in my studying hypnotherapy, mindful guided imagery and intuitive guidance. While I have been doing some reflecting, I have been enjoying practicing as well. The practice of being still, being outside in nature and listening and observing, and then transferring that over to my thoughts, has been transformative for me.

I was not exactly sure what it was that changed. It could be the hypnotherapy I have been doing (I am a client too!), or just being more aware of my thoughts, but I have noticed that my old, worn-out worries are just not really there as much anymore. It’s almost like they have almost disappeared.

If this is so, then why so many people are still suffering? If only they knew that life does not need to be so hard. Why are some still living inside their mental prisons?

I have to remind myself that not everyone is aware of this fact that there is in fact a mental prison. There is a paradox at play – you cannot fix what you do not know is broken. To awaken to this fact takes some quieting of the mind and connecting with Divine Source energy, with God, with your true self, which is all of the above.

So many of us just accept that our way of life is just “how it is.” That we are meant to be addicted to smartphones, stressed, depressed and medicated. That we are meant to work 60 hours a week and go out drinking on the weekends or binge-watch TV shows just to cope with the pain of living this way.

Sometimes, though, it gets too much. Somebody gets terminally sick, has a nervous breakdown, loses their job or has some kind of other “wake-up call” that things are not alright. That it’s not normal to live like this.

I could go on and on about the ills of our society, and why I believe that things are like this, but ultimately my goal is to help you, and to help us humans free ourselves from our own minds.

Simply, the goal is, I believe, to raise our vibration. I know that many of you have heard that before, and maybe you are wondering just what that means. In my view, "raising our vibration" means that we are living in a state of love for our fellow humans, that we feel hope, compassion and kindness first toward ourselves and toward all sentient beings, including the Earth itself (herself).

Sometimes it’s hard to do this, though. Many of us have experienced unimaginable trauma, and some of us have just experienced little traumas over our life that has added up into a shell we have erected to protect ourselves. But eventually, we start to realize that the shell is cracking and falling apart, and that we need a new solution.

And then what sometimes happens is fear. Fear of what it means to let go of this protective outer shell, fear of letting a part of ourselves go, fear of trusting in a power higher and more loving than ourselves. Voices and opinions of what we have heard from parents, teachers, the media and even friends swirl in our heads, often reinforcing our worst fears. And then we get paralyzed. Some of us know this is not a way to live, but we cannot find a way out of our mental slavery. And if you are sensitive and empathic, then you are even more at risk of being negatively affected by these low-vibration influences around you. And this can lead to darkness, to depression, to drug addiction, and sometimes to suicide.

I have seen this happen to people around me, and it breaks my heart. If only they knew that there is a better way, that many of the “solutions” in the traditional Western medicine can completely debilitate and numb people, especially children. Is this what we want? We have been trained to believe that if we just take a pill for something, that it will make everything all better. We have been taught that there is a "quick-fix solution" for everything. But many do not realize is that with all of these prescriptions, we are just masking the real problem, which is still there deep down until it is confronted.

Then there’s our smartphone and internet addictions. Last year, after returning to the U.S. from a trip abroad, I was amazed when going through customs that almost every single person had their head buried in their phones. I am not sure if we realize what this addiction is doing to us, to our brains, to our emotional wellbeing, to our sanity and to our health. It takes time for the effects of smartphone addictions to cumulate, but if we are not careful, we are at risk of becoming a nation of automotons. It’s not our fault though! (Not completely, at least). People running large social media companies and designing smartphones and video games design these to be as addictive as possible. Every time we get a “Iike” for something, or a “follow,” we get a rush of dopamine. And then we go back for more, again and again. It’s time to break ourselves free from this cycle of dysfunction.

Clearly, it is still a battle to fight this wave of social programming that is happening to us.

However, there is good news in all of this, I believe. It has gotten to the point of being almost as bad as it can be. There is a backlash against this, a movement to get back to the Earth, to live more simply, to become more self-sufficient and to unplug from the programming.

For me, I try to do all of these things, and also have found three habits to be essential to my own soul growth, awakening and maintaining a sense of clarity, peace and freedom. The following suggestions I hope will help you in kind:

1) Create space to rest your mind. Become aware of your negative thought patterns by training yourself to become the observer of your experience. And this is best done by a daily practice of meditation, even if just for 5 minutes to start. (And consistent too.. you wouldn’t stop brushing your teeth after noticing they were clean after a few days of brushing, right? Same goes for keeping our minds “clean!”)

2) Tap into a source of pure love higher than yourself. This can be God, or angels, Jesus another Ascended Master, or spirit guides, or simply just light. But this is what will keep us going... finding our higher selves in our hearts, the seat of our souls. Imagine a ball of light growing in your heart every day, and imagine that this light is spreading through your body. Send this light as a form of healing out to the world. This is raising your vibration.

3) Work on your stuff. Dig into your fears. Excavate your limiting beliefs. Uncover your self-defeating thoughts. Just identifying the negative Ego is the first step. Then you have a choice whether or not to let it run your life anymore. Meditation trains your mind (and it takes time!) to let go of negative thinking and beliefs. But often some of these beliefs are so deeply entrenched (since childhood) that it might be necessary to re-program the subconscious mind with affirmations and positive thoughts. Modalities like hypnotherapy or neuro-linguistic programming can transform your subconscious thoughts completely.

For me, this “recipe” of three approaches has been key. Other important pieces are getting outside in nature, finding joy and having fun, helping others in need and being with community and friends. And just being gentle with yourself. It’s really actually kind of simple, if you think about it. It’s just a matter of devoting the time and effort to re-training your mind, and creating a life that will free you. It’s not supposed to be this hard. Life is supposed to be filled with joy. And if it’s not, then it’s time to make a change. You don’t have to take my word for it, though. Try committing wholeheartedly to doing the above three things for even just 30 days and see if you don’t notice a major shift in your life.

It’s almost not a choice we have anymore. It’s time to live the lives we deserve to live. We don’t have time to waste any longer. We have suffered for too long, and our suffering has led to us causing the suffering of others, including animals and our planet. The old ways of protesting and fighting things are not working anymore. The only way we can survive this time is if we change our mindset and shift our consciousness at the core. This will be what saves us.

A spiritual counselor, intuitive coach and writer, Rachel Horton White founded Soulful Work Intuitive Consulting in January 2016 to support those searching for true purpose and fulfillment in their lives. Along with individual coaching, Rachel shares in the world a podcast of interviews with inspirational figures and guided meditations, a blog of musings, workshops with private groups and in workplaces, and interactive online courses. She taught American Government at a local community college in Portland, Maine, and was an English as a Foreign Language (EFL) teacher in Guadalajara, Mexico. With a Bachelor’s Degree in English from Wellesley College and a Master’s Degree in Public Administration from the University of Georgia, Rachel claims her true education came from studying abroad in Dakar, Senegal in college. Rachel is also an amateur dream analyzer, piano player, traveler, outdoor enthusiast, Tarot reader, yogi, writer/painter-of-sorts. Her most important and blessed roles of all came in her early 30s, as wife to an incredible man and mother, guide and pal to two energetic, bright-eyed, young children in Portland, Maine. A spiritual counselor, intuitive coach and writer, Rachel Horton White founded Soulful Work Intuitive Consulting in January 2016 to support those searching for true purpose and fulfillment in their lives. Along with individual coaching, Rachel shares in the world a podcast of interviews with inspirational figures and guided meditations, a blog of musings, workshops with private groups and in workplaces, and interactive online courses. She taught American Government at a local community college in Portland, Maine, and was an English as a Foreign Language (EFL) teacher in Guadalajara, Mexico. With a Bachelor’s Degree in English from Wellesley College and a Master’s Degree in Public Administration from the University of Georgia, Rachel claims her true education came from studying abroad in Dakar, Senegal in college. Rachel is also an amateur dream analyzer, piano player, traveler, outdoor enthusiast, Tarot reader, yogi, writer/painter-of-sorts. Her most important and blessed roles of all came in her early 30s, as wife to an incredible man and mother, guide and pal to two energetic, bright-eyed, young children in Portland, Maine.